Malaysia's PAS Rejects Draconian Law, Embraces Multi-faith Nation

Malaysia's government has defended a proposal to bring back detention without trial.

Prime Minister Najib Razak says the police need strong powers to fight a wave of violent crime.

Thirty activists and rights lawyers on Monday staged a protest march to parliament in Kuala Lumpur, which is debating the amendment of the 1959 crime-prevention act.
 
The government abolished similar powers under the Internal Security Act two years ago, in the lead-up to May's general elections.

One of the critics of the proposal is opposition MP Khalid Abdul Samad of the Islamic party of Malaysia, PAS.

Sen Lam talked to him about this.

“The Barisan Nasional government has reneged on its pledge of making Malaysia a more open and democratic society. Where, after doing away with the ISA (Internal Security Act) and the Emergency Ordinance Act, it suddenly comes up with the amendment to the Prevention of Crime Act, to allow detention without trial, for a period of two years, which can then be further extended for another two years. And we think that in almost every case, there should be a situation where a person who's detained has been proven of his guilt.”

Crime has been on the rise in Malaysia and the BN government is seeking tougher laws through this proposal. Isn't that reasonable, that the government should put in place tougher deterrence?

“Well, the tougher deterrence is okay, but I think if you detain a person purely based on suspicion, then obviously you're going to open the doors wide for a miscarriage of justice. And this is where we're against it. We believe that the government should introduce better policing policies, make use of the policemen and train them to ensure that their job of preventing crime and taking action against criminals are further reinforced.”

You're the member for Shah Alam, in the state of Selangor. Selangor is also experiencing a crimewave, how do you and Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition, propose to address the crime wave in Malaysia, without these tough laws?

“Well, the Selangor state government had made a proposal to have a kind of community policing, to have an additional police under the state government, where the state government itself would be willing to put up auxiliary policemen.”

In addition to the federal police, you have your own state police?

“That's right, that's right. To ensure and increase the police presence on the streets. Most of these crimes are being committed out in the open, in public, in daylight - like the snatch thieves and so on, and this is something which is easily preventable, if we have sufficient police on the ground. We have a ratio of about one policeman for every 280 members of the public, which is a reasonable ratio, but the number of policemen who're actually involved in fighting crime is only probably about thirty percent of the actual police force.”

“Last year, they (the federal government) were denying the crime wave was as high as what was being reported, saying that it was a matter of perception. And suddenly now, they say, "oh yes, we agree, and because of that we need these extra powers, and we have to give to the police this power to detain," even without proper trial.”